The former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo - who took part in a Moonie wedding last year - has been given permission to return to his priestly duties.

The Vatican said in a statement that the 72-year-old cleric will celebrate Mass at his new base at L'Abbazia di Casamar, south of Rome later this week.

Archbishop Milingo hit the headlines in May last year when he married Maria Sung, a 43 year-old South Korean woman, in a multiple wedding ceremony held by the Reverend Moon's Unification Church, in New York.

Within days he had left his wife, had a personal meeting with Pope John Paul II in August 2001, and renounced the marriage.

Maria Sung staged a hunger strike outside the Vatican, claiming the Church was holding her husband against his will. After apologising to Ms Sung and the Church, Archbishop Milingo spent a year in spiritual retreat in Argentina.